Louisiana man dead after traffic collision involving riding lawnmower

A Louisiana man is dead after the riding lawnmower he was driving was struck by a pickup truck on the service road of Highway 69 North in Beaumont.

Saturday, March 29, at about 8:12 p.m., Beaumont police responded to a report of a major crash on the northbound service road of the 8300 block of Eastex Freeway.

When officers arrived, they found 43-year-old Vernon H. Boudreaux deceased at the scene, police report in a Beaumont Police Department press release. Boudreaux resided in Beaumont but was originally from Jennings, La.

Traffic investigators were able to determine that Boudreaux had been driving a riding lawn mower on the service road when he was struck by a 2014 GMC Sierra pickup truck, the press release states. After the GMC struck the lawn mower, the truck came to a rest in the outside northbound lane of Hwy 69 North (Eastex Freeway). The lawnmower and Boudreaux came to a rest in the grassy median that separates the service road from the highway. The service road was dark at the time and the lawn mower that Boudreaux was operating had no rear lights and no reflective lenses or markers, police said in the press release.

Judge Kenneth Dollinger pronounced Boudreaux dead at the scene and ordered an autopsy.

The investigation is still on going and traffic investigators have not filed any charges at this time.